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Saturday, March 5, 2011

Mama Drama

"I can't take these kids anymore!" I yelled to Fred as I stormed into the room.

"Uh-oh. What happened?"

"None of the bigger kids can get along for more than like TWO SECONDS when they're getting ready for school. They're constantly jumping down each other's throats. Over the littlest most insignificant things. I just don't GET them."

"I'm assuming there's more...?"

"Yes. So they all get on the bus and I go to wake up Daniel by calling up the stairs to him. I called him and I called him and I called him AGAIN."

"Yeah. I heard you 'calling' to him."

Is he condescending me????

"So at one point after I called him for like the bazillionth time, he started crying. CRYING. Said his stomach hurt."

"And so then ...."

"And so then I marched up the stairs (pounding my feet really hard with each step for effect)and I stormed into his room and I said 'You get your bottom dressed and downstairs right this minute young man. I've been calling to you for like a half HOUR!"

"So what did he do?"

"Nothing. He just looked at me and said, 'OK, Mom, jeez. Why are you so upset?' and I said 'Why am I so upset? Calm down? Are you kidding me? I've been calling you to come downstairs to get ready for school for a half hour!!!' So then he finally came downstairs and I had put some Pepto on the table for him and he said, 'Why did you give me Pepto?' and I said 'For your stomach ache' and he said 'But I don't have a stomach ache' and I said 'oh yes you do you were crying and telling me you had a stomach ache' and he looked right at me and said 'I don't know what you're talking about' "

And I looked over at Fred packing his underwear into his suitcase and cried,"And I can't believe you're leaving me!"

"Well, don't say it that way. I'm not leaving you. I'm just going to a conference. I'll be back in a few days."

"You're leaving me. You're flying off in an airplane and someone will bring you a little plastic cup of soda with ice and a little bag of pretzels and then you'll check into yor hotel and it will be all clean and pretty with no dog hair or socks and you will sleep in a bed with fresh sheets and you will eat in restaurants every night where you don't have to cook the food or put your dishes away or clean up the pots and pans and when you come back to your hotel room at the end of your conference every day it will be quiet and there will be no dog hair or socks."

And so Fred bit back his smile and gave me a hug and told me he would be back before I knew it. Told me to go take my shower that I should have taken a HALF HOUR AGO but Daniel was dragging his feetand he would go check on our youngest to make sure he was moving along with getting ready for school.

So I did, and oh, what perfect timing for a visit from my special friend.

And no that has nothing whatsoever to do with my state of mind right now

And Fred came back up to give me a report before he left methat Daniel was doing OK and had finished his breakfast and packed his lunch.

He said, "I asked him what all the trouble was this morning and he didn't seem to know what I was talking about. So I told him that you said he was having trouble getting moving and getting ready for school."

"And what did he say to that?" I asked, thinking he would have some lame justification for not being more responsible and independent.

Like Mr. Rogers used to say (paraphrased), Won't - you be - my Followers?

A Little History

Quite frankly, I don't know what I was thinking at the time. We went from 3 kids by birth to "oh, let's adopt a 4th" without a whole lot of deliberation.

While adopting said 4th (in Kazakhstan), we met a young man of 8 yrs by the name of Borya. Thought he was a pretty nice kid and years later found out we could adopt him too. Only thing was, he came as a 2-in-1 package with his younger sister Ylia. What the hay, said we, and rushed headlong into the adoption process. Again. To adopt two kids that were 10 and 13 at the time.

Started a blog to keep track of where my head was in this adoption game. When Borya and Ylia arrived home, we were suddenly the proud parents of six kids, ages 9, 10, 11, 11, 13 and 13.

That was back in 2009, but I still blog. I figure what doesn't make us laugh makes us cry, and I'd rather be laughing.

Also? We live on a farm(ish) with a few dozen critters. You're just as likely to read a post about the farming side of things as you are the parenting side. Thought you might want to know in case you have allergies or something.

As for the structure of this blog, I pretty much post on a daily basis, and I tend to be all over the place in what I write about, so if it's nice, neat and compartmentalized you're looking for, be off with you now, you won't find it here.

I do have some structure, though, I'm not a total bohemian. I roll like this:
Mon: Mirth Monday. A little somethin' to make you chuckle.
Tues: Sometimes Adoption Tuesday, sometimes A Tip For Tuesday, sometimes random thoughts.
Weds: Wordless Wednesday. Usually a photo or some artwork from myself or one of my oh-so-talented children.
Thurs: all random, all the time.
Fri: Farm Friday. Speaks for itself.
Sat, Sun: More random musings.

Feel free to explore and don't be shy -- drop me a line to say hello, and be sure to add yourself as a follower. Feeds my ego in a big way. I'm very insecure.